Brazil: Amazon deforestation drops, but devastation still rampant
Al JazeeraDeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen in the 12 months through July, new government data showed, as incoming President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeks to restore protection for the vital rainforest. Wednesday’s data closed out four years of what environmentalists call disastrous management of the Amazon under Bolsonaro, who was accused of weakening environmental and Indigenous protection agencies in favour of agri-business and mining interests. Brazilian Senator-elect Flavio Dino, who is acting as public security chief in Lula’s transition team, told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that the incoming administration would create a new federal police unit focused on environmental crimes. Carbon Brief, a UK-based climate website, said in a report in September that a Lula election victory could see deforestation drop by 89 percent in the Brazilian Amazon over the next decade and would prevent the destruction of 75,960sq km of rainforest by 2030.